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You Again, a musical about cloning

nytheatre.com review by Alyssa Simon
August 15, 2005

On its official website, You Again: A Musical About Cloning is described as a "straight-faced comedic musical." That is a perfect definition of its style and also the reason why, given the outlandish plot, it succeeds and entertains so well.Clorox Fantastik, a substitute teacher (so named because he was orphaned as a boy, found in a janitorial closet, and raised by custodians), arrives at a normal enough seeming high school thinking that he is just working there for one day. He discovers Ruby, a lonely guidance counselor to whom he is inexplicably drawn. He also meets the students in his class who represent all the high school archetypes: Johnny the nihilistic loner, Davey the lunkhead jock, Lila the school tramp, Heather the cheerleader, and Vagnes the nerd.He also meets the oily principal, appropriately named Mr. Skummings, and is introduced in the teachers' lounge to his bitter and burnt out co-workers. There, he hears them talking about a missing science teacher named Arthur Dunn, the man he is there to replace. Clorox comes to realize that something is not quite right (could it be the two-headed janitor, Victor, that gives it away?) and decides to stay.A good thing he does, because Dunn is alive and conducting his science experiments in human cloning on the students in the school basement. Funding his research is a nefarious corporation represented by the Ad Men, who go by the names of Cobalt, Crimson, and Lime (also the colors of dish soap and other household products for sale). See, while Principal Skummings only wants the students cloned so that their difficult teenage personalities can be erased and their test scores improved, thereby saving the closing of the school and his job, the Ad Men also want the students cloned—the kids who make F's and the kids who make A's are cloned and all the clones make B minuses, so that every one is average. In other words, everyone becomes the same, a little mediocre, and the perfect consumer.There is a surprise ending that I won't give away but I can tell you that there is an awesome fight scene at the end involving the entire cast and some mops, choreographed by Warren Carlyle. It's difficult to single out any one performance. I would have to say that a few standouts in a cast of standouts are Jennifer Lee Mitchell as Ruby for her sense of humor and warmth and Cat Davis for her terrifyingly perky and energetic cheerleader, Heather, Also, Marc Donovan for being the square jawed yet soft spoken hero, Clorox Fantastik and Johnny Pruitt as the school loner. Kudos as well to choreographer Carlyle who has created hilarious moves for the Ad Men, and director Bill Gullo, who also wrote the book and lyrics. (My favorite song, "Wake Up Heart," has Ruby singing to her broken heart, "Don't make me come in there and turn that sad music down.") And lastly, kudos to composer Rob Wagner, who also happens to be a member of one of the the great modern Klezmer bands, the New Orleans Klezmer All Stars. Go see this show!